Sri Lanka dealt another blow as Shaminda Eranga is hurt playing football

Mahela Jayawardene admits it was difficult for his side to put the MCG debacle behind them but they will bounce back.

Last Updated: 03/01/13 8:46am

Mahela Jayawardene: Admits it was difficult for his side to put the MCG debacle behind them

The tourists were humbled inside three days in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, leaving many predicting a similar outcome at the SCG with Australia's in-form four-pronged pace attack and an uncharacteristic green wicket.

But after struggling to cope with a bombardment of short balls from Australia's quicks last time out, Jayawardene backed his misfiring top order to handle the challenge much better this time.

The 35-year-old right-hander, who will relinquish the captaincy to Angelo Mathews after this Test, added that Sri Lanka had done a lot of soul-searching over the past week in the lead-up to this match.

Jayawardene said: "We've spent a few days to try and get over that match, what happened and how we can avoid something like that again.

"Teams do go through that sort of thing. It happened to us in South Africa last year at Centurion where we lost in two-and-a-half days and we bounced back in Durban to win the Test match.

"It's about guys owning responsibility about what happened and doing something about it. It is a strong Australian side but if we play to our potential and back ourselves then we can stand up to that."

However Sri Lanka's preparation hit another snag on Wednesday, with emerging fast bowler Shaminda Eranga injuring his leg during a friendly football match prior to training.

It is another unwelcome distraction for the tourists, already without star batsman Kumar Sangakkara (finger) and paceman Chanaka Welegedara (hamstring), while wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene (thumb) and fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara (ribs) are both in severe doubt.

Experience

An honest Jayawardene accepted the Sri Lankans had let themselves down during the tour, laying much of the blame at the hands of the batsmen.

He added: "That's where our experience lies and that's where we control a lot of Test matches.

"We need to make sure we take that control back whether it's the technical side of it or the mental side that we need to address.

"We have spoken about it but there's only so much you can talk behind closed doors - we need to go out there and perform."